Birthdays
by ExplosiveNoteNinja
Summary: Gaara knows when something special happens in Sunagakure. Of course he does. It's his job. --Happy belated birthday, BB!--


**Disclaimer: **If you thought I owned Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, or/and Baki, go help Muffin cook. XD : P

Muffin: Huh? I get slaves?

Me: Yeah. Now hurry up and finish that cake before--Oh, ummm...people are reading this, aren't they? DANG IT! Well, anyway, I guess I'll get straight to the point...

Gothica: Gasp! Any other new things you're trying today?!

Me: **glare **Go die in a ditch and stop bringing me down, Gothica. This is a special fic.

Splode: Yeah! It's her first one-shot!

Ani: Really? Huh, a one-shot...HOLY CRAP, A ONE-SHOT! SWIRLY'S WRITING A ONE-SHOT!

Muffin: Doesn't she hate the idea of one-shots?

Gothica: And yet she reads, and as of now, writes them. I live with such geniuses. **walks off **

Me: YEAH, YOU BETTER RUN! ...Dammit, she's still only walking. XD Well, yeah, this is my first one shot, but it's special aside from that because--I still haven't gotten to the point yet, have I?

Muffin/Ani/Splode: Nope.

Me: Dang. Well, to make this short(as of now)...**the four of us suck in a deep breath**

Me/Muffin/Ani/Splode: HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY BB!!

Splode: Can you guess who the cake is for yet? XD

Birthdays

Gaara knew when something special was happening in Sunagakure. Of course he did. He had to know everything that went on in the village. It was his job.

At this moment, Gaara happens to be sitting on the very edge of the roof of the Kazekage building--his building. And even though he does this often, people still tell him to come down.

He doesn't mind that, though. It's a sign they care about him. Temari and Kankuro know he can take care of himself--he is the Kazekage, after all--but maybe it helps them rest better at night when they tell him to come down off his dangerous perch and watch the village from somewhere safer.

Gaara's watching several people in the streets below him, three boys and a girl. The boys are the girl's older brothers--they are taking her home for the night before it gets too cold and too dark to enjoy the evening.

That's not what's special at this moment, though. Sunagakure isn't exactly the largest of the five 'Kage villages--not many people have birthdays at the same time. So it is that, as usual, there is only one birthday happening today. Gaara knows about it, of course. Gaara knows everything.

Temari is climbing the stairs to the the roof of the Kazekage building, where she knows she will find her youngest brother. She emerges on the far side from him, though, and has to trot across the wide floor--from the inside, the ceiling--to speak with him face to face.

She has never really bothered to make Gaara come down off the edge. He always stays near the edge. He'd be okay, but that didn't stop her from trying. Gaara hears her coming before she even makes it halfway, though, and knows who it is. So he inclines his head fractionally to see her before she joins him, leaning over the balcony and gazing out over the village that is beginning to slip into it's nocturnal setting; shinobi flitting silently across rooftops, ANBU rotating shifts, guards doing the same as the civilians and the marketers and the three boys and a girl make their way home and settle down for the night.

After a quiet second, she takes a step back and stares hard at him. "It's time to come in," Temari says. "You really should sleep tonight. And please come off that ledge before you fall."

Gaara smiles a small smile, nodding at her. "I know, Temari. I'm going to stay up a bit later, though. I'll go in before midnight." He says nothing about getting off or staying on the ledge--he never does, and Temari knows he'll be perfectly fine even if he does fall; he's survived much worse, after all.

Temari nods back at him, leaving it at that. She is about to turn and go back inside again, when a thought occurs to her. Deciding to test her theory, she asks, "Gaara?"

He inclines his head again. Temari didn't usually stay this long. "Hmmm?"

"Is it someone's birthday?"

Gaara pauses, blinks. He sometimes fails to remember how uncannily perceptive his older sister can be. "Yes."

Again Temari waits for a second and then nods, a ghost of a smile upon her face. "Well, then I don't mind if you stay up all night. But if you crash tomorrow, don't complain to me."

"I won't. Good night, Temari." _Thank you, _he adds silently. He's only told a few people about his obsession with birthdays. Out of that handful, even less understand it. Temari was one of the ones who did.

"Alright, then. Night, Gaara." _You're welcome, _she thinks, recrossing the wide floor/ceiling and shutting the door leading to the stairway quietly behind her.

Alone again.

Gaara puts the events of the day and the recent conversation behind him as the natural sounds of the desert night envelope him and the entire village. Even now, now that he is allowed to sleep and dream and have nightmares, he has the black rings around his eyes. They're there because he still stays up late at night, should he sleep at all. Gaara stays up late because the night is his favorite time of day.

At this moment, a girl in his village sleeps soundly in her bed--she is a writer and a poet and a close friend to a handful of shinobi in Suna. She is well known by many people because of her writing, but Gaara knows that. He knows everything.

It it also this girl's birthday.

Or, it was, anyway. Her birthday had been a few days ago, but Gaara had been visiting Konoha then. He intended to make up for missing it.

At this moment, Gaara has made his mind up about what he'll do this night. Without command, the sand blown over the expanse of the building rustles softly as it scurries over to Gaara. When it's circling around his feet patiently, Gaara carefully checks to see that no one is in the street below him. If they saw him at the moment, they might have a heart attack.

That was because Gaara had just stepped off the roof.

Of course the young Kazekage doesn't fall--the sand supports him, whispering quietly as he glides without noise through the space above the houses of Suna.

Gaara loves these few fleeting seconds of his mission the most--just him, the sand, the night, and the desert.

And the birthday.

They are tricky things, birthdays, Gaara reflects as he spreads his hands, enjoying the wind he feels as he flies. Not everyone has them to celebrate. And some people who do never get to celebrate at all.

The last thought might have saddened him at any other time, but not now. Now, he is on part of a never-ending mission making sure that everyone in his village would have something to celebrate on their birthday. Some of those people still hated him because he had been a Jinchurriki. Some of them admired him and loved him as their Kazekage. It didn't matter. A birthday is a birthday. No matter who you are, Gaara thinks, on your birthday, someone should care.

Three people out of the five he has told understood why he sets out to ensure that the people in Suna know someone cares when they were born. They are his sister, his brother, and Baki. He's told them and they, with more knowledge of his past than anyone else, know why he does it.

As Gaara coasts slowly to a landing outside the bookstore, he isn't thinking about his reasons. As he quietly picks the simple lock and breezes through the shop, finding what he wants and leaving the money on the counter, he doesn't think about the fact that no one has ever celebrated his birthday until recently.

Gaara doesn't bring to mind the years where his father had made a special effort to have him murdered on the day that marks that Gaara, against the wish of many, does still exist. He doesn't think of those times that, until recently, he was feared and hated more than ever. Those memories hurt and ached like a raw wound, and he doesn't like to bring them to mind.

The past three years had been better, though. The first year, a few people had still tried to kill him. But at least he didn't have to kill them. His siblings did it this time, and his teacher. Temari had shredded the first to ribbons, but Kankuro beat her to the second; even when the man was dead, he didn't stop kicking the body for some time. Baki outdid them both, though; he'd tortured the assassin killer for hours before ending it.

The second year, no one had tried to kill him, but if looks could kill he would be dead. That year had been one of the best of his life, though. His siblings had gotten him presents and thrown him a party. It was just the three of them, and Baki, but Gaara hadn't cared. He hadn't stopped smiling for a week.

The third year was the best of his life, because not only did Baki, Temari, and Kankuro celebrate for him, but the entire village did too.

Currently, pulling himself back out of the past and checking that he's at the right house, Gaara clutches the present tightly to his chest as he dematerializes into a cloud of sand and skitters under the front door to the house. Slipping through the hallways like a desert ghost, he looks in the cozy rooms as he passes them. The girl has a nice setup. No doubt she had had a special day already, but Gaara still has a belated present to deliver.

In the far back of the house, the room with the biggest windows and the best view of the desert, Gaara pulls himself back into solid form and pads on silent ninja feet over to her nightstand. He tilts his head to better see the features of the girl snuggled into the covers, her hair falling slightly over her face, a smile dancing on her lips as she dreams. About what, he can't guess.

Turning back to the task at hand, he places the present on the only bare surface on the nightstand, propping it against the lamp and making sure it won't fall and clatter to the floor in the middle of the night.

After a minute, Gaara blinks, realizing he's forgotten something. Checking the insides of his pocket, he smiles. Pulling out the folded piece of paper he had left there earlier in the day, he twirls a small floating orb of sand in his palm. Condensing the trace amount of moisture in the air, he concentrates hard until the sand deepens to a light topaz color. Carefully, he makes the sand turn into letters and ingrains it into the paper until he has written what he wants. Satisfied, he casts a last glance at the sleeping girl and melts into the night.

Hours later, Gaara is still perched on the very edge of the roof, arms folded across his chest as he watches the sun rise. Kankuro comes stumbling up the stairs and makes his way over to Gaara, yawning and rubbing at his eyes and still with his sleeping cap on.

"Gaara?" Kankuro asks, stifling another yawn and scratching his head, removing the sleeping cap. "Have you been out here all night?"

Gaara nods. "There was a birthday."

Kankuro hesitates, a little bit more awake now. "...Oh."

"The author. You know, the one who travels, and wrote the book about us."

"Oh," Kankuro says again, starting to smile. "So, you've been up all night?"

Another nod.

"Then come down off that ledge and go get some sleep. I'm taking the dawn rounds with the ANBU today--otherwise I'd still be sleeping, nice an cozy in my bed." Kankuro winks, half-complaining. "I'm sure Temari will get you some breakfast later, bro. I'll go tell her your going to bed, if you want."

Gaara shakes his head. "No thank you, Kankuro. I'll stay up a bit more, I'm fine with it."

Kankuro shakes his own head blearily and sighs. "Okay, then. But when you see me on the west point of the village with the ANBU, I want you to go to sleep, okay? You don't have to worry about Shukaku anymore, and even the Kazekage needs a nap."

Gaara turns to look at his older brother and smiles. "Okay. I will."

"You've gotta promise me," the elder insists, stubborn. "You'll go to bed when you see me in the west, got it?"

Gaara's smile grows just a little bit bigger. "Yeah. I promise, Kankuro."

Kankuro nods gruffly, satisfied. "M'kay, then. Later, Gaara."

"Bye, Kankuro."

Seeing the ANBU patrol stop and wait for him on a distant rooftop, Kankuro nods once more to his little brother and jumps away, leaving Gaara alone with the sand, the morning, and the sunrise.

And the birthday.

Finally, Gaara decides to head in early and begins to make his way to the door leading to the stairs descending into his building. Half-way across, though, he pauses. Someone aside from the always alert ninja and the early-morning marketers is awake in Suna.

A girl's head has suddenly jumped off her pillow--what woke her up, no one can say. But the first thing she sees is a beautiful notebook, bound in gold-and-tan ribbon with an incredible painting of a raccoon on the front cover. Breathless, she picks it up carefully, turning it around in her hand, wondering why it's there. She notices the small slip of paper that flutters out from between the pages and picks it up.

Only a few words are on the paper. It reads,

_Happy Belated Birthday. I'm sorry I'm late, but I hope the present makes up for it._

_Have a good year, from me._

_Signed,_

_-Gaara_

After reading it and holding the notebook tightly, she smiles.

"Thank you, Gaara," she whispers, "I hope you have a good year, too."

And at this moment, all the way up on top of the Kazekage building, Gaara smiles to himself again and reaches the door, pulling it open and descending the stairs. Closing the door to his room softly behind him, he lets his gourd fall to the floor and kicks off his shoes before resting on the soft, welcoming cushions. He'd just made someone very happy. He knows that. Gaara knows everything.

-

**Author's Note: exasperated** I thought one-shots were supposed to be short! XD

Muffin: Back it up slowly! Slowly, slowly...There! Perfect! Hey! Moriko, get out of the icing!

Moriko: But I just got here! And besides, Shay'll just inhale it anyway.

Muffin: NOT IF I CAN HELP IT!

Ani/Splode: O,O"

Me: ...Ooo...kayyy...thennn...Wait, where's Gothica?

Gothica: Present. What do you want?

Me: You need to be here. Number one, this is a present for BB. Number two, it is a BELATED present for BB. And number three, it is a BELATED BIRTHDAY PRESENT for BB. SO BE HAPPY!

Gothica: ...You want me to come to party, is that right?

Me: Yes. Because apparently my long rambling Author's Note ing my first one-shot and first present-tense story and present for BB--

Gothica: Sometime today?

Me: **glare of death **AS I WAS SAYING...Yeah. It's a party. Kind of. I just hope she likes the color o the streamers.

Ani: XD

Splode: Oh, Muffin, I have that mechanism you wanted...

Muffin: perfect! **shoves a big jack in the box inside the cake **

Us: O,O"!?

Muffin: ...What? Oh, hey, BB, turn the handle on the box...yeah, like that. And, three, two, one--!!

**POP GOES THE GAARA!**

Gaara: ...I was inside a cake.

Me: Yes. Yes you were.

Gaara: ...Is there a reason for this?

Me: ...It's a birthday party?

Gaara: Oh. Okay, then.

Muffin: XD

**_Happy belated birthday, BB! Sorry this is so flipping late...I was gonna upload it last night, but the Mole People demanded I pay them the money I owe. XD So I had to...borrow...from Kabuto to pay them off. : P Bwhahaha. Anyway, I hope you've had a good birthday and I hope you have a great year! Peace! XD_**

**_(...and yes, I saw your birthday date on your Gaia account. August 15th, right? Well...Ummm... -starts singing- They say it's your birthday! (dun dun dun duh duh duh dun duh) We're gonna have a good time! They say it's your--_**

**_Moriko: Shut up!_**

**_..._**

**_..._**

**_..._**

**_..._**

**_...XD!_**

**_Signed,_**

**_-Swirly, the clones, and Gaara. Bye! : D )_**


End file.
